Farm and Garden

[85_Ranger4x4]

Is there a hay bailer out there that isn't a Rube Goldberg contraption?

True

These look simple but unlike a newer one has no hydraulics. Everything is automatic and it works by various brakes, cams and springs. You stop moving, it does it's little dance and presto, you have bale!

Dads big round baler doesn't have half as much going on. It makes bale, you put twine on it and you open the baler and kick it out.

 

[Roert42]

The roof is going to be a delima. I prefer metal but moneywise it looks like asphalt shingles are cheaper.

Around here steel roofing seems to be much cheaper, becoming much more popular because of it. You save money because you don’t have to sheet it you can just run lath across the rafters and be done.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If you do decide metal and lathe, do use Tyveck or similar (not plastic) to catch and direct condensation to the outside of the walls.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Last night it was windy about dark so I figured that'd keep the mosquitoes away which did work but mowing sucks in the wind going one direction . I just realized a couple months ago how to get the headlights on the mower on (turns out one notch back on the key from normal run position... whatever ) so I kept mowing till around 10pm I think...

Today after doing me stuff I went over and helped my brother do some welding on the hydraulic lift mechanism we put on an old seed drill that was originally chain lift, turns out hydraulics have a lot of force , I think we finally have it good though... then his cultivating tractor (Farmall Super A) was running rough, turns out choking it at idle a couple times fixed the carb, one spark plug was leaking oil so we pulled it (somewhat loose too) and cleaned it and closed up the gap some, it has more power now , it's a smoker though so gotta keep up on the oil level, apparently needs some rings...

 

[racsan]

Got the final exterior wall of the chicken house up today, built it in the garage then used 2 hand trucks to move it around to the back then tilt it upright and lift on to the deck. Starting on the roof supports tomorrow, its rained on & off all day so I couldn’t get much more done that a wall built & set.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Howz about a bowl of sunshine...

 

[Lefty]

Howz about a bowl of sunshine...

View attachment 97105

Oh yeah. It's that time of the year. I'm more than ready, too.

 

[Josh B]

Got the final exterior wall of the chicken house up today, built it in the garage then used 2 hand trucks to move it around to the back then tilt it upright and lift on to the deck. Starting on the roof supports tomorrow, its rained on & off all day so I couldn’t get much more done that a wall built & set.View attachment 95191View attachment 95192

You need to get a roof on that

 

[racsan]

Its got a roof now, working on the exterior walls. picked up my sliding door hardware yesterday. It been suprizing how fast this summer has went. Still have the edging pieces to put on the roof and wont cut out the panels where the windows go until all 4 walls are completed. The walk in door from the outside Ive made the cuts except for the corners, Im getting there, just not as fast as I thought it would. I dread the paint cost. Want to go with white, tsc does have a reasonable deal on 5 gallons of barn red paint though.

 

[Josh B]

Awesome man. Wish mine would carry plywood laying flat.

Now I see, that's holding the ladder

 

[racsan]

got a lot done today, all of the siding is up, I temporarily hung the rail for the siding door with a trolley so I could get measurements and build that door. Next I’ll build that, then permanently mount the rail, open the east and west side window openings, frame the entry door on the west side, add the hinges and latch then finish the cuts at the corners then that door will be there. finish the top back edge and side edges on the roof. Then its on to the inside stuff. Nest boxes, door between feed room and bird area, finish that wall out. then the electrical.
Oh and paint- found some flat grey “maintenance “ paint @ menards for $40/5gallon. Seems like the best paint deal Im gonna find.

 

[Josh B]

When can we get some breakfast!?

 

[97RangerXLT]

got a lot done today, all of the siding is up, I temporarily hung the rail for the siding door with a trolley so I could get measurements and build that door. Next I’ll build that, then permanently mount the rail, open the east and west side window openings, frame the entry door on the west side, add the hinges and latch then finish the cuts at the corners then that door will be there. finish the top back edge and side edges on the roof. Then its on to the inside stuff. Nest boxes, door between feed room and bird area, finish that wall out. then the electrical.
Oh and paint- found some flat grey “maintenance “ paint @ menards for $40/5gallon. Seems like the best paint deal Im gonna find.View attachment 97240

Looks great!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Mowing was too busy to get a picture.

Raking was low key and fun.







Time to get really serious...



Oil for the gearboxes.



So I could watch how it was working I decided to pitch it on for a few bales. To simplify things ran without twine, not super required for prototype bales.

Four or five pitchfork loads in and I smell hot rubber... sure enough we gots issues.



Blew three bottom belts so I trip the latches, dig out the half a bale I had made. I had two spare belts so I got them put on. Maybe be a bit baggy but it might still work?

Feed them in from the front and bump the clutch a little to suck them in.



Using the little wire cleverly disguised as a piece of hay "zip" the two ends together.





Ready to try again



And that would be a mission kill.



On the plus side when the big wad of belts went thru it at the end, the twine arm dropped down and would have wrapped if it had twine and then it tried to eject it just like it was supposed to.

So while it is a major bummer I think the mechanism is pretty close to working, just let down by $400 worth of 71 year old belts.

 

[Josh B]

Awesome man, that's an early round baler eh?